At Bhiwani village, accused’s mother told: ‘He’s on holiday’

NOT AWARE OF CASE The 55yearold widow, diagnosed with epilepsy and hysteria, told that Ashish will be back from holiday soon

ROHTAK: At Bhiwani’s Barsi Jattan village, nearly 250 kilometres from the state capital, where the June 4 stalking incident took place and created a nationwide out rage, them other of co-accused Ashish Kumar is not aware that her son has been arrested twice in the last one week.

The 55- year-old, who was diagnosed with epilepsy and hysteria after her husband passed away three years ago, has been told that As hi sh has gone on a holiday and will be back soon.

Living next to their house, Manmohan Olla (45), Ashish’s cousin, says, “She would not be able to withstand her son’s arrest.”

Ashish(27)was on the passenger seat last Friday night when he and his friend Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Bar ala, allegedly s talked DJ VarnikaKun du in Chandigarh. While the case has made headlines, Ashish, who allegedly got off twice and sought to open Varnika’s car door forcibly, has not got as much attention as Vikas has.

The family earns its income through agriculture. The villagers said Ashish had recently lost a lot of money in the stock market and had to sell a major portion of their family land. They are now left with around five acres. A law graduate from a His ar college, he was looking for a job and had appeared several examinations for government jobs.

“It was at the law college that he became friends with Vik as. He had called me few hours before the incident that night (June 4). He said Vikaswa staking him out to see Chandigarh as he also wanted to live there. A day later, we got to know from newspapers that the two had been arrested. I spoke to him thereafter. He told me they have got bail. But he was worried they will be arrested again due to all these protests,” said Manmohan.

While Subhash Barala is accused of influencing the probe to save his son from harsh er pun- i sh ment, As his h’ s family has not engaged any lawyer and is not even aware of the latest developments in the case.

Asked what if the politician’s family would save their son by putting the entire blame on Ashish, Manmohan said they trusted Vikas and his family.

“Let the law take its course. If they have done wrong, they should be punished accordingly. But we don’t want things blown out of proportion,” he said.

The opposition parties are attacking the BJP because they don’ t have any other issue ,” Manmo hans aid.

Let the law take its course. If they have done wrong, they should be punished accordingly. But we don’t want things blown out of proportion.

MANMOHAN OLLA, accused Ashish Kumar’s cousin